Obituary

Roy Porter 1946-2002

Roy Porter, who died on 3 March 2002, was one the best historians
of his generation. His prolific output brought social and medical
history to new audiences.

Only a few months ago Roy's colleagues and friends at the Wellcome
Centre and Library (previously the Wellcome Institute for the History
of Medicine) were celebrating his early retirement and wishing him
health and happiness. He was full of plans for a new life ('I've
never done so many of the things I want to do before I'm dead'),
which included growing vegetables, learning to play a musical instrument,
learning a language, and travelling to the many places he had never
had time to visit: doing 'creative things'. Needless to say, he
was also going to write the odd book, contribute to a BBC series,
undertake lecture tours and generally do more in his retirement
than most people do when working. But then Roy always had the energy
and productivity of a team of people, so there was nothing surprising
in that. His sudden death therefore, at the age of 55 has shocked
all those who came in contact with him. It seems so unfair that
someone so full of life, who looked healthier than ever, who still
had so much to offer us, and who was clearly enjoying a happy 'retirement',
should be denied more time.

Roy came from a south London working-class home and attended Wilson's
Grammar School, Camberwell, of which he was later to say '[ it]
fills the memory, haunts my dreams as the great formative experience'.
He was later to return to speak on Founder's Day each year, although
he claimed that it filled him with dread:

'I can face lecturing to students, They are consumers
who have chosen their own fate... Children are the cruelest audience,
because I pity the five hundred faces trapped in front of me ..
are they looking down to hide their embarrassment as I stumble through
my stock of platitudes? I am unused to being rhetorical or inspirational
(let alone inspired or inspiring)'.

It was typical Porter to see the event through the eyes of his
audience, to be scared of being a bore, and to downplay the effect
he made with his outstanding and indeed inspirational gift with
words.

Roy read history at Christ's Cambridge (studying under J. H. Plumb
and Quentin Skinner) where he took a double first. In 1972 he was
appointed fellow and director of studies in History at Churchill
College and finished his PhD, on the development of geology as a
scientific discipline, in 1974. He was then appointed Assistant
Lecturer in European History, Cambridge University, and promoted
to Lecturer in European History and Dean of Churchill College in
1977.

In 1979 Roy moved to the Wellcome Institute as senior lecturer,
where he played a vital role in the flourishing Institute with its
very full academic programme, while publishing on a scale which
sometimes defied belief. The Wellcome gave him the freedom from
administrative responsibilities and the resources (not least access
to enormous amounts of photocopying), to facilitate his extraordinarily
prolific output. The 18th century and the Enlightenment were his
particular fascinations, but his interests embraced a wide range
of social, medical and scientific topics including the history of
geology, political thought, the history of madness, quackery, sex,
London, the doctor and patient, art and literature. Apart from editorship
of History of Science (1972- 2001), and jointly of both the journals
Journal of Historical Sociology (1988-2000) and History of Psychiatry
(1990-2001), Roy was joint editor of the Wellcome Series in the
History of Medicine and acted as consultant to numerous publishers.
His monographs include The Making of Geology (1977); English Society
in the 18th Century (1982) ; London: A Social History (1994); Mind
Forg'd Manacles: Madness and Psychiatry in England from the Restoration
to Regency (1987); The Greatest Benefit to Mankind': A Medical History
of Humanity (1997); Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the
Modern World (2000); Madness: A Brief History (2002). Roy had a
number of projects on file and it is hoped that two further books
will see the light of day with Penguin: Mind, Body, Spirit and Blood
and Guts: A brief history of Medicine. There was also talk of a
two-volume history of Britain from the 17th to the 19th-centuries.
In total there were over 100 books- not to mention the countless
reviews.

His gruelling schedule of lectures ranged from the smallest local
history society and association to prestigious named lectures. Always
a popular speaker, Roy was a natural communicator. Chameleon-like
he would adjust his style for each audience to perfection, conveying
excitement and enthusiasm. He spoke with panache, making plentiful
use of colourful quotations and quirky alliterations, yet the apparent
ease with which he spoke belied the fact that he had frequently
rehearsed the lecture carefully beforehand. Increasingly he was
in demand by the media, contributing to Nightwaves and other radio
and television programmes. A TV series on the Enlightenment was
in hand, which he claimed to be very nervous of doing. Yet he would
surely have been a star performer in this as well, becoming, in
the process, even more widely known.

Promoted to a chair in 1993, he was made Professor Emeritus on
his retirement in September 2001. Wider recognition of his achievements
came with his election to the British Academy in "1994 and
to honorary fellowships of both the Royal College of Psychiatrists
and the Royal College of Physicians; University College London had
recently nominated him for an Honorary Fellowship.

Roy knew everyone and had a good working relationship with a huge
network of contacts. Despite an apparently frantic lifestyle, he
was very generous with his time and continued to be so even in his
'retirement'. At the same time he could be dismissive of those who
suffered from writing blocks or failed to meet deadlines. Action
was all. If a good general textbook on medical history did not exist
there was no point in wingeing about it, write one yourself... hence
his 800 page general history of medicine, The Greatest Benefit to
Mankind.
Roy treated all his colleagues and friends alike, without pretension,
irrespective of their position. With his cheeky grin, unshaven stubble,
flamboyant or casual dress of leather jacket, boots, jewellery or
denims, charging around London on his bike, Roy was far from the
popular image of the academic and relished his freedom to do as
he wished. His indefatigable energy and appetite for living to the
full spilled over into his private life, which was a complicated
one, with four marriages and resulting financial difficulties. The
subject of speculation, Roy maintained a very private persona, known
well by only a very few.

Roy never lost his energy, enthusiasm and curiosity. His death
is untimely, but his life will be remembered and celebrated as one
of incredible achievement and a huge capacity for fun.

7 March 2002

Roy Sidney Porter born 31 December 1946, died 3 March 2002. He
leaves behind his mother and his partner, Natsu Hattori. And his
ex-wives Susan Limb, Jacqueline Rainfray, Dorothy Watkins and Hannah
Augstein.